Steel-harness motion for looms.



No. 744,910. PATENTED NOV. 24, 1903.

0. H. DRABER. STEEL HARNESS MOTION FOR LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 31, 1903.

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v c. DRAPER. STEEL HARNESS MOTION F011 LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 31, 1903.

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PATENTED NOV. 24, 1903.- 0.11. DRAPER. 'STBEL HARNESS MOTION FOR Looms.

APPLIGATION FILED JULY 31, 1903.

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TJNTTED STATES Patented November 24, 1903.

PATENT Orrin CLARE II. DRAPER, OF HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TODRAPER COMPANY, OF l-IOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

STEEL-HARNESS MOTION FOR LOOMS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 744,910, dated November24, 1903.

Application filed July 31, 1903. Serial No. 167,668. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, CLARE I-I. DRAPER, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Hopedale, county of Worcester, State of Massachusetts,have invented an Improvement in Steel-Harness Motion for Looms, of whichthe following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings,is a specification,like letters on the drawings representl0 ing likeparts.

This invention relates particularly to harness or shedding motion forlooms wherein the so-callec steel harness is employed, such term beingtechnically applied to harnesses of the type wherein the heddles aremade of thin flat metallic strips longitudinally slotted to receive asupporting-bar of less depth than the length of the slots, the heddlesalso actingas warp -stop motion controlling detectors. :0 Such form ofharness is shown in United States Patents Nos. 536,968 and 536,969 andin others, which are well known to those skilled in the art.

It is a fact well known to those familiar z 5 with the practicaloperation of both types of loom-harness that cloth can be woven with aslacker tension when cotton harnesses are used than when the regular orusual form of stop-motion steel harness is employed. There are alsocertain goods requiring a face or surface appearance which can now bemade only with the cotton harness.

My present invention has for its main object the production of means toovercome 5 these disadvantages of the steel-harness motion, as well asto prevent warp breaks and slack threads to some extent by eliminating agood deal of the strain on the warp. The action of the cotton harnessdiifers from that of the steel harness in several important respects.The warp'eyes of the former are always at a fixed distance from the topof the harness-frame, so thatnecessarily the warp follows the exactmotion imparted by the shedding-cam. On the other hand, in the steelharness the heddle hangs upon or is suspended froin the heddle-bar whenits frame is up, and it presses u p on the bar when the frame is down.Consequently when the frame is up the warp-eye of the heddle is lowerwith respect to the bar than when the frame is ter.

down, and at some point intermediate the extreme positions the bar ismidway in the slot of the'heddle. At that point the warpthread passingthrough the warp-eye of the 5 5 heddle is not being either raised orlowered by the action of the shedding-cam. In other words, it is notthen controlled by such cam. Should the lay beat up at this point, it

is not at all certain that all of the threads will be held at the sameheight, and if not their tension will not be uniform and the appearanceof the cloth is apt to suffer. On account of the lack of control of theheddles referred to the momentum of the latter, both in the 6 5 rise andfall, must be stopped by their several warp-threads, resulting instraining the lat- Inasmuch as the heddle-bar of a steel harnesstraverses the heddle-slot in addition to moving the warp the properdistance it is manifest that it goes farther than a cotton-harness frameforthe same shed opening, and if the time of motion is the same (as itmust be when the same dwell is used) the motion is quicker and givesmore jerk to the 7 5 warp-threads.

In accordance with my present invention the heddles are so mounted thatthe various obj eetions and disadvantages heretofore mentioned as nowattendant upon the use of steel harness are either wholly eliminated orreduced to such a minimum as to cease to be objeotionable in practice.

The various novel features of my invention will be fully described inthe subjoined speeification, and particularly pointed out in thefollowing claims.

Figure 1 is a front elevation, centrally broken out, of a sufficientportion of a steelharness motion to be understood with one embodiment ofmy present invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectionaldetail on the line 2 2,Fig. 1,looki11g toward the right. Fig. 3 isaleft-hand side elevation of theloomframe and harness-motion, the nearerside of 5 the frame being broken off to show clearly the parts beyondit. Fig. A is an enlarged side elevation of one of the shedding-camsshown in Fig. Fig. 5 is a detail of the portion of the stop-motionmechanism internie- 10o diate the feelers and the shipper knock-offlever, omitted in Fig. 3 to avoid confusion.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged front elevation of one of the upper corners of aharness-frame with several heddles mounted thereon viewed in therelative position of the parts when the frame is up. Fig. 7 is avertical-sectional view thereof on the line 7 7, Fig. 6, looking towardthe left. Fig. Sis a sectional view on line 8 9, Fig. 6, looking towardthe left, taken when the harness-frame is up. Fig. 9 is a similar viewon the same line 8 9, but taken when the frame is down. Fig. 10 is aside elevation of one of the heddles detached, and Fig. 11 isa-perspective detail of the holding device for the movable heddle-bar.

In Figs. 1 and 3 I have shown my present invention in connection withharness-actuat' ing mechanism, substantially as shown and described inUnited States Patent No. 7 33,089 but my invention is not restrictedthereto, as any other suitable form of actuating mechanism may be usedin lieu thereof.

The loom-frame A, arch A the shipper S and its notched holding-plate N,Fig. 3, the cam-shaft O the treadles T and T each having a roll, as 2%,to cooperate with its particular cam, the latter being shown at O and Ofor a twoharness set in the present embodiment of my invention may beand are of substantially well-known construction.

The pair of oppositely-rocking bell-cranks m m and n n for eachharness-frame, fulcrumed at a and a respectively, and connected by anequalizing-link e, the liftingspring S, connecting the upturned arms ofeach pair of bell-cranks, and the depending links 10 12, connecting thelatter with the top of the harness-frame, are all substantially as inPatent No. 7 33,089 and operate as therein provided for, the treadlesbeing connected with the bottoms of the harness-frames by adjustableconnectors If and t of well-known character.

The harness-frames comprise each a suitable bottom bar h, upright sidebars 71., (shown as rods rigidly attached thereto,) and at their upperends screwed or otherwise rigidly secured to depending bosses 72 ofheads h and the latter are rigidly connected by an upper cross bar orbars h corresponding to the usual heddle bar orsupport in a steelharness.

Inasmuch as the two frames herein illustrated have the same constructiononly one will be described in detail; but in Figs. 1 and 3 I haveindicated the front and back frames as H and H, respectively.

As most clearly shown in Figs. 7, 8, and 9, each frame is provided withtwo bars h to support each a bank or series of heddles d, which are alsowarp-stop-motion controllingdetectors, the heads 71 havingoppositelylocated seats 15 (see Fig. 7) to receive the ends of the bars,which are notched at 16, Fig. 6, to receive the shank of a holding-bolt17. This bolt passes through a vertical slot 'h in the head, so that byloosening the nut 18 the bolt can be slid upward to release the heddleheddle-bars h bar or bars. The heads are flattened above the bosses 71.and are each surmounted by an eye 72. for the reception of the lower endof the suspending-link, while an ear k having a vertical hole h throughit, is extended outward from each head near its top for a purpose to bedescribed. A plunger 6 is adapted to slide vertically in each ear 7:,the lower end of the plunger being provided with an enlarged base ehaving depending parallel portions e and acentraltongue-like part 6leaving a clearance between it and each. of the outer portions e, asbest shown in Fig. 11. The base is located outside thehead, (see Fig.6,) with its depending side portions e parallel to the front and rearfaces of the head, the tongue 6 being of slightly greater thickness thanthe head.

A pair of auxiliary heddle bars h are mounted on each harness-frame, asherein shown, the said auxiliary bars having their ends inserted betweenthe sides 6 and the tongue 6 of each plunger-base and held in place by acotter-pin or other suitable fastening 20, passed through holes in theseveral parts. The tongue separates the two bars h so as to admit thehead h between them without binding thereupon, so that the bars may moveupon the head in a vertical direction toward and from thefixedly-attached main A spiral spring s is interposedbetween each ear hand the plungerbase e surrounding and normally tending to. depress theplunger.

The heddles d are made of thin flat metallic strips each having awarp-eye, as '2, and 1011- gitudinally slotted at its upper end at d,the.

general structure of the heddle being well known; but the slot (1 ismade of greater length in my present invention, as each heddle iscontrolled by two heddle-barsthat is, the main bar h and thecorresponding auxiliary bar h are both extended through the slots ofabank of heddles, as clearly shown in Figs. 6, 8, and 9, theplunger-springs s acting in such manner that while the two bars of abank of heddles are held apart the warpeyes 2 will be at a constantdistance from the main or upper bar 72?, which latter is accuratelycontrolled by the shedding cam. Such separation of the bars ismaintained during the motion for shedding, as will appear hercinafter.

A transversely-extended casting g, having openings g (see Fig. 1) forthe passage of the lay-pitmen, is bolted to the loom-frame, the centralportion of the casting being interposed between the lower ends of theheddles of the front and rear frames and forming a back-stop or supportfor a released heddle.

its ends to provide bearings for two parallel rock-shafts f .each havingarms f to which are secured the oppositely-facing feelers f, so locatedas to cooperate with a released heddle-detector of one or the otherharness-frame.

As shown in Fig. 5, the rock-shafts are provided with intermeshingsegmental gears f and a spring .9 (shown only in Fig. 5) acts to movethe feelers toward each other on their feeling stroke, the segmentalgears insuring rocking of the rock-shafts f in unison, but in oppositedirections.

The mechanism for operating the feelers and to cause the operation ofthe stopping instrumentality upon release of a detector will bedescribed briefly hereinafter.

At each end of the back-stop and above the openings g the casting hassecured to it vertically-adjustable brackets 9 each having a horizontalflat head g and a depending foot 9 the feet supporting rods 9 which formwarp-rests, one in front of and the other behind the two harness-framesH H, only the front warp-rest being visible in Fig. 1. A vertical slot22 in the bracket receives the shank of a clamping-bolt 23, passedthrough and supported in the casting extended across the loom, one boltserving for the pair of brackets at each end of the .casting, and bymeans of the slots 22 the brackets can be adju stedvertically.

Each bracket-head g has screwed into it a vertical stop g shown as ascrew-bolt and provided with a check-nut Q12, the head or upper end ofthe stop being located in the path of movement of the plunger-baseextensions e e of the corresponding harness frame that is, each framehas one of the plungers at each side, as has been described, and thereis a stop to cooperate with each plunger, this being clear from Figs. 1and 2, and it will be evident that on the rise of a frame the expansionof the springs 8X will cause relative movement apart of the bars h and huntil the stops are rendered inoperative by the rise of the frame. Atsuch time the heddles will be hung or suspended from the main bars h andthe lower edges of the auxiliary bars h will be adjacent the bottoms ofthe heddles1otsd,so that as the harness-frame is stopped at its upperlimit of movement the tendency of the heddles to be thrown fartherupward, due to momentum, will be prevented by the auxiliary bars. Thereis thus no straining of the warp from the jumping up of the heddles, andthe latter are evened in their high H position, making the strain equalupon the different warp-threads in the upper plane of the shed.

It should be stated at this point that the lateral enlargements 30 ofthe heads 72, limit movement of the auxiliary bars away from the mainheddle-bars W.

The shedding-cams C and O are alike in contour and are shown as setopposite each other, and in Fig. 4 one of the cams is shown on anenlarged scale to more clearly illustrate the construction thereof. Thefront harnessframe is up and stationary, while the treadleroll ttraverses the dwell portion from c to c, Fig. 4f, the jumping up of theheddles at the top of the stroke being prevented, as described, at thebeginning of such dwell. As the cam continues to rotate, however, theframe is depressed during the traverse of the treadle-roll from c to con the shedding-cam, and as the short portion from c to c is concentricwith its shaft the movement of the frame is stopped temporarily. Anytendency of the heddles to be thrown farther in adownward direction atthis point is prevented by the main or upper heddle-support 78, sincethe descent of the frame has been stopped temporarily, and theauxiliary-bar carriers, as the plungers 6 may be termed, are now inengagement with the vertically-ad j ustable stops 9 so that the saidauxiliary bars are at the end of their downward stroke. Remembering thatthe main bars h are supporting the heddles, it will be manifest thatsuch bars must descend farther in order to allow any heddles whose warpthreads are broken or unduly slack to drop into position to act ascontroller-detectors and detect the fault, although the intact threadsmust not be farther depressed. Consequently the cam from c to c isshaped to give a further depression to the harness-frame, movingdownward the bars h while the auxiliary bars h are held stationary bythe stops g Any released heddle can then move down, placing its lowerend in the path of its cooperating feeler on the feeling stroke thereof,and by engaging and arresting the feeler the warp stop-motioninstrumentality is caused to operate and effect stoppage of the loom.The heddles whose threads are intact are held down by the auxiliary barsh the strength of the springs 3 being sufficient to overcome or resistthe upward strain of the warpthreads in the lower plane of the shed.From 0' to c the cam periphery is concentric, giving the dwell at thebottom of the stroke of the frame for detecting. Continuing the rotationof the cam after the dwell of the frame from c to c on the cam, theframe is raised quickly as the treadle-roll traverses the part c c,which is the reverse of the part c 0 and the main bars h are then movedupward; but just as they take hold of the heddles at the upper ends ofthe slots d the short dwell c c operates and prevents the heddles frombeing taken up with a jerk. By this time, however, the frame has risenfar enough to permit the springs 8X to expand, and the carriers for theauxiliary bars h are ready to rise from the stops g the carriers beingthereafter supported on the enlargements or shoulders 30, referred to.The main and auxiliary heddle-bars are now in normal relative positionand'rise in unison as the part c c of the cam cooperates with thetreadle-roll, completing the rise of the frame.

Referring to Fig. 4, it will be seen that the portion '0 c c c is verysimilar to the ordinary cotton-harness shedding-cam, and it is the partof the cam which controls the motion of the heddles. While the portion cc c is in action the heddles are not moved, but rest upon thewarp-threads and are held down by the auxiliary heddle-bar. Inasmuch asthe position of the lower plane of the shed is the more important inadjusting harnesses, I can with the mechanism herein shown adjust theharnesses for the upper plane of the shed with fair accuracy, and thenby means of the adjustable stops 9 adjust the auxiliary bar with anydegree of accuracy requisite to give good results. The lower plane ofthe shed is manifestly positioned by the auX- iliary heddle-bar, so thatthe finer adjustment of the latter provides for the necessary accuracy.

,I will now briefly describe the means whereby the arrest of the feelerby a released heddle-detector releases the shipper S Referring to Fig.3, a knock-off arm k, adapted to engage the lower end of the shipper, ismounted rigidly on a rock-shaft 70 supported on the loom-frame andhaving a depending arm 70. A link K, Figs. 3 and 5, is pivotallyconnected at its lower end with said arm, the upper end of the linkbeing hooked at 70 Fig. 5, to embrace the cam-shaft O said linksustaining a short rock-shaft 70 The latter has fast upon it arearwardly-extended arm 76*, connected by a rod or link k with an arm ffast on one of the feeler rockshafts f and said rock-shaft 70 has also arigidly-attached follower 7c and a bunter W, the former being held inposition to be engaged by a feeler-actuating cam K fast on the camshaftO". The spring .9 acts through the link k to keep the follower incooperation with the cam K which is a double throw cam, and the lattereffects the non-feeling stroke of the feelers in a manner obvious tothose skilled in the art. cated in the path of a cam having twooppositely-located tappets Fig. 5, and normally the cam K will operatethrough the follower to elevate the bunter and depress it withoutengagement by either tappet. When, however, a released heddle engages afeeler, the latter is arrested on its feeling stroke, and the bunter 70will remain in the path of one or other tappet so that as the latterengages the bunter it will move it and the link K bodily to the left,Figs. 3 and 5, to thereby turn the shaft and act through the knockoffarm 70 to release the shipper S Such release operates through any usualor suitable instrumentality-as, for instance, a beltshifter-to stop theloom in order that the fault may be remedied.

I have described briefly a simple and efficient form of mechanism foroperating the feelers and for effecting shipper release when a heddlereleased by failure or undue slackness of its warp-thread moves intoposition to engage and arrest a feeler; but any other lhe bunter k islosuitable mechanism of this general character may be employed so far asconcerns the main features of my invention hereinbefore set forth.

Having fully described my invention, what conformity with the movementof the bar-- ness-frame.

3. In a loom, a shipper, a harness-frame provided with heddles havingwarp eyes, means to positively control the position of the warp-eyesduring shedding, and means to cause the release of the shipper by orthrough a heddle upon failure of its warp-thread.-

4. In a loom, areciprocating harness-fram e, a series of heddles carriedthereby and serving also as warp-stop-motion controlling-detectors, andmeans to positively control the position of the heddles during theformation of the shed.

5. In a loom, a harness-frame, a series of heddles carried thereby andhaving a limited longitudinal movement relative thereto, a cam tocontrol the movement of the frame, and means to position said heddles inpredetermined relation to the frame during the movement of the latter toform the shed.

6. In a loom, a reciprocating harness-frame, aseries of heddles carriedthereby and serving also as warp-stop-motion controlling-detectors, toeffect the operation of a stopping instrumentality upon failure of awarp-thread a shedding-cam, and means to positively control the positionand movement of the heddles with relation to the harness-frame duringthe shed-forming movement of the latter.

7. In a loom, shed-forming mechanism, including harness-frames eachprovided with heddles serving also as controlling-detectors,intactwarp-threads maintaining the heddles inoperative as detectors, andmeans to prevent movement of a released heddle into detecting positionuntil after the shed is completed.

8. In a Warp stop-motion for looms, heddles serving also as controllingdetectors, and means to permit a released heddle to drop into detectingposition only after the shed is completed.

9. In a loom, harness-frames, heddles carried thereby and having limitedlongitudinal movement relative thereto to enable them to act ascontrolling-detectors for a warp stopmotion, means to reciprocate theharness- IIO frames, and means to prevent momentum-induced movement ofthe heddles when the proper shed-opening has been attained.

10. In a loom, harness-frames, heddles carried thereby and havinglimited longitudinal movement relative thereto to enable them to act ascontrollingdetectors for a warp stopmotion, means to move theharness-frames to form the shed, and means to prevent momentum-inducedmovement of the heddles when the frames have been positioned to properlyopen the shed.

11. In a loom, harness-frames, heddles carried thereby and havinglimited longitudinal movement relative thereto to enable them to act ascontrolling-detectors for a warp stopmotion, means to move theharness-frames to form the shed, and means to prevent continued movementof the heddles, due to momentum, when the harness frames have opened theshed.

12. In a loom, a vertically-reciprocating frame having a cross-bar, aseries of longitudinally-slotted heddles mounted on the bar and having alimited longitudinal movement relative thereto, and means independent ofthe bar to positively stop upward movement of the heddles when theharnessframe is at the upper end of its stroke.

13. I11 aloom,avertically-reciprocating harness-frame,a series ofheddles carried thereby and having a limited longitudinal movementrelatively thereto, to enable the heddles to act also aswarp-stop-1notion controlling-detectors, a cam to control thereciprocation of the harness-frame, said cam causing the latter todiminish its speed before reaching the bottom of its stroke, and meansto at such time stop descent of the heddles and thereafter to releasethe heddles from control thereby.

14. In a loom,a vertically-rcciprocatin g l1ar-.

ness-frame having transverse main and auxiliary heddle-supports one ofwhich is movable toward and from the other, a series of heddles servingalso as controlling-detectors and 1011- gitudinally slotted to receivesaid supports, means to reciprocate the frame, and means to stop themovable support before the harnessframe has completed its stroke.

15. In a lo0m,a vertically-reciprocating harness-frame having arigidly-connected main heddle -bar, an auxiliary heddle-bar below andmovable toward and from the main bar, a series of heddles serving alsoas controllingdetectors and longitu'din ally slotted to receive saidbars, spring-controlled carriers for the auxiliary bar, and means tostop the movement of the latter at a predetermined point in the downwardstroke of the harness-frame.

1 6. In a loom, a vertically-reciprocatin g har-' ness-frame havingtransverse main and auxiliary heddle-supports one of which is movabletoward and from the other, a series of heddles serving also ascontrolling-detectors and longitudinally slotted to receive saidsupports, means to reciprocate the frame, and verticall adjustable meansto stop the movable support at a predetermined point in the downwardstroke of the harness-frame.

17. In a loom, a vertically-reciprocatin g harness-frame having arigidly-connected main heddle-bar, an auxiliary heddle-bar below andmovable toward and from the main bar, aseries of heddles serving also ascontrolling-detectors and longitudinally slotted to receive said bars,means to maintain the bars rela tively immovable as the harness-framereaches the upper end of its stroke, the auxiliarybar then acting toprevent jumping up of the hed dles, and stops to engage and hold theauxiliary bar stationary at a predetermined point on the downward strokeof the harn essframe, continued movement of the latter causing the mainand auxiliary bars to approach each other and permit a heddle releasedby failure .or undue slackness of its warp-thread to drop into detectingposition.

18. In aloom,avertically-reciprocatingharness-frame, a series of heddlescarried thereby and having a limited longitudinal movement relativelythereto, to enable the heddles to act also as warp-stop-motioncontrollingdetectors, means to prevent such relative movement untilshedding is completed, and means to control the reciprocation of theharness-frame, said latter means causing the bar ness'frame to diminishits speed before shedding is completed.

1 9. In a loom, a vertically-reciprocatin g harness-frame having aheddle-bar movable with relation thereto, and adjustable meansindependent of said frame to set the bar in proper position for an openshed.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

CLARE I-I. DRAPER.

Vitnesses:

E. D. BANCROFT, ERNEST IV. Wool).

